Dancing to the Beat (Of a War Drum)
by Dragontealth
Summary: After an ending gone terribly wrong, Frisk fruitlessly attempts to reset back to the start of their adventure. Something goes wrong in the process, and Frisk's once-innocent journey for happiness escalates to a race against time as they fight their way through waves of monsters they don't recognize, discover stories they've never heard, and try to figure out what got them there.


It wasn't meant to turn out this way.

The last time Frisk had pressed the restart button to send them back to the beginning, they had sworn to themselves it would be the last. After this, they would be done, and they would finally stop resetting in hopes of a better ending than the ones they had already achieved. But as they gazed up in horror at the demonic form of Omega Flowey, unable to stop them from turning all their friends to dust, they just barely registered the fact that this wasn't meant to happen.

Endings were meant to go a certain way. Frisk would reset back to the beginning, and sometimes Flowey would remember them. Sometimes Frisk would avoid the bullets being thrown at them, and sometimes they would run headfirst into them. No matter what they chose, though, there were certain events that were meant to happen, no matter how many times the hands of the clock had been turned back. Sans would greet them with a whoopie-cushion, Papyrus would try to get Frisk to participate in puzzles, Undyne would always be there to meet them in Waterfall, and Asgore would always be waiting patiently for them in his garden, amongst all those terrible golden flowers.

Seeing this outlier, this anomaly in the constant loops… it terrified Frisk. Flowey wasn't supposed to be able to get the six souls until Frisk had defeated Asgore at the barrier, and yet, only minutes away from Snowdin, they had somehow managed to gain all of this power early on in the timeline. Frisk leaped back as a series of thorned vines tried to swipe at them, and they took little pleasure in hearing the villainous laughter coming from the abomination only increase in volume.

 **"Ahahahahahahaha! You really think you can keep dodging, Frisk?! You'll slip up, and when you do,** ** _I'LL SAVE OVER YOUR DEATH SO I CAN WATCH IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN_** ** _."_** Flowey cackled, relishing the look of fear on Frisk's face. They were up to their ankles in an ashen dust, the only remains left of the dozens of monsters that called Snowdin their home. Even Sans, which you had once thought to be an undefeatable enemy, had been torn to shreds within moments, his powers having absolutely no effect against Flowey.

The worst part was… Flowey was right. Frisk couldn't keep dodging forever, and their health had been slowly whittling itself down over the course of the battle. The next hit they took would probably end up killing them, and there was no guarantee that they would be able to reset after an anomaly like this if they were dead. They tightened their grip on their toy knife, knowing it wouldn't do much to Flowey.

 **"You really think that pitiful little toy scares me? I'm a** ** _god_** **, even your strongest weapons will have no effect on me! You should just give up now and make this easier on both of us!"** Flowey goaded, beginning to fling projectiles at Frisk again. Frisk gritted their teeth and dodged each bullet and star, and before Flowey could close their creepy mouth-like thing again, Frisk flung the toy knife directly into their mouth. Flowey let out an angered scream, and Frisk took advantage of the distraction, turning on their heel and bolting towards Waterfall.

Frisk ran like the hounds of hell were on their tail. They refused to slow down or stop, no matter how much their legs and lungs hurt, knowing that even a moment of hesitation would result in their death. They could hear the screams of dying monsters behind them as Flowey turned them to dust, and they pushed themselves harder, desperately trying to get to a safer place. They shoved their way through tall kelp-like clusters of plants that they could have sworn shouldn't have appeared yet, and nearly slammed straight into Sans' sentry station.

 **"YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER, FRISK!"** Flowey shouted after them, and Frisk bit their lip to stop them from making any noise. They continued running, and as they passed a waterfall with falling rocks tumbling down along with it, instead of continuing past it, they plunged themselves into the center of the waterfall, forcing themselves into the small secret room they knew was there. They pressed themselves tightly against the back wall of the cave, taking deep breaths and hoping to any higher power that may exist that Flowey wouldn't think to check in there.

As Flowey loudly shambled past the waterfall, a few of their vines reached into the cave, feeling around it for another monster. Frisk held their breath in anticipation as one skimmed the area right around them, coming only a couple inches away from them. After finding nothing, though, it slowly retracted with the rest of the vines, and Frisk took a deep breath, trying to regain oxygen in their lungs. They needed to get out of here.

They knew they wouldn't be able to do it by normal means, as Flowey had already gained so much power and simply walking out would just be a death wish, but as much as Frisk hated the idea of it, there was only a couple ways it could go. Frisk could give up and walk out, allowing Flowey to kill them over and over again until they could gain access to the souls inside Omega Flowey and end up in a monster-less Underground, or they could reset the timeline and prevent this from going on any longer.

Frisk sighed. They should have known there was going to be a catch to refusing the idea of resetting. Their gaze shifted over to the old, dusty tutu lying on the ground next to them. None of the other humans had gone through what Frisk had gone through. None of them had been able to save and reset. Sometimes it made Frisk wonder what their journeys had been like, knowing that if they died they would never be able to get a second chance. It certainly would have made it a lot more interesting for them. They trailed a hand across the fabric of the tutu. Maybe it was time they reset before Flowey finds them again.

Slowly pushing themselves to their feet, Frisk began the necessary ritual to make their menu show up. They gently touched their temples, before crossing their arms across their chest to touch their shoulders, and then finally touching their chest right above where their heart was. After a moment of hesitation, the menu finally flickered up, and Frisk tapped the menu where the reset button was located.

"A name has already been chosen.  
 **CHARA**  
No **Yes** "

Frisk glanced back at the entrance to the cave one last time, making sure that Flowey wasn't nearby, before forcefully pressing the 'yes' button to confirm their choice. They gasped as an agonizing, sharp pain shot through them, before their vision went black and they collapsed to the floor of the cave. The last thing they heard before they fell unconscious were the far-off screams from Flowey as the timeline was ripped apart.

...

Frisk woke up slowly, body aching and head pounding out a steady rhythm. They groaned, reaching up to feel their head and make sure they weren't bleeding. That happened quite a few times. There were just their hair and a headband, so they were probably fine…

Wait.

Frisk sat up quickly, ignoring their body's complaining, and they forced their eyes to open so that they could get a better look at what had happened. This… wasn't their outfit. They were wearing a pink and white ballerina's outfit, with thick, fluffy pink leg warmers and armbands, as well as a headband with a pink bow attached to one side of it. Their eyebrows nearly shot up to their hairline in confusion. Something like this had never happened to Frisk before, no matter how many times the timeline was reset. Did something change because of Flowey?

They pushed themselves to their feet, accidentally crushing a few golden flowers in the process. They needed to figure out what was going on here. They stumbled down the hall to the first doorway, using the walls to help support them and stop them from falling over again. So far nothing seemed much different besides the outfit change, but they had a sinking feeling about what was to come.

They cautiously peered around the corner into the next room, hands tightly gripping onto the doorframe, and they faltered slightly as they realized that the room was entirely empty. Wasn't this the room that Flowey was supposed to meet them in…? They hesitantly stepped into the room, ready to bolt at a moment's notice if something decided to try and attack them. There was absolutely nothing in the room. No flowers, no rocks, no loose dirt that could have implied that something might have once been there, just a hole in the roof far above that shined a faint beacon of light onto the center of the room.

Frisk crouched down and gently prodded at the barren ground where there should have been a flower. There wasn't even any grass or dirt there for flowers to grow. They frowned. Something was seriously wrong here. Was this even the same room as before? They froze as they heard padded footsteps walking down the hall in front of them, and they glanced around, fruitlessly trying to find a hiding spot in the room. They pushed themselves as far away from the opposite doorway, and watched it in fearful anticipation, waiting for the other to reveal themselves.

"Oh dear. Are you alright, young one?"


End file.
